Saarlanders Develop New PFAS Filter Method

Researchers from Saarland and the USA have developed a new method to remove hazardous substances from water. These are perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) that can be found on functional clothing or in cosmetics, for example. With the new method, the filtering of these substances should become more sustainable.

Coated cookware, functional clothing, cosmetics or fire extinguishing agents - among other things, they contain dangerous substances, so-called perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals or PFAS. For example, they ensure that water rolls off rain jackets, but they can also be found in cardboard boxes in which food is packed.

On the one hand, PFAS are practical for everyday use - but they also entail a major problem: they cannot be broken down naturally.

This puts a heavy strain on the environment. The chemicals have now been detected everywhere, including in Saarland . Research results so far show that they are already in the water, in the soil, in the air, in plants, animals and also in humans. Although it has not yet been determined how dangerous the substances are, experts advise that the dose should be kept low.

New, More Sustainable Filter Process
Researchers from Saarland and the USA have therefore now developed a new method to filter the substances out of the water - and more sustainably than previously possible. According to a press release from Saarland University, the filter processes were previously very complex and harmful to the environment and climate. One possibility was filtering with activated carbon, which then had to be burned to finally destroy the substances.

Using an electrochemical method, scientists headed by Markus Gallei, Professor of Polymer Chemistry at Saarland University, and Xiao Su from Illinois and their doctoral students Frank Hartmann (Saar University) and Paola Baldaguez (Illinois) succeeded in removing PFAS from the water filter without having to burn the filter immediately afterwards.

Research Results Lay An Important Foundation
In the newly developed electrochemical method, an electrical voltage is applied to so-called metallocenes, which are metal-containing polymers. "That means nothing other than that we have found a method of how to remove PFAS from the water on the one hand and how to release them again so that the electrode can be used in many ways," says Markus Gallei to the Results of the research work. "Unlike the activated carbon filter, which I have to destroy after the PFAS molecules get stuck in it, I can switch the metallocenes a thousand times if I want to."

In this way, the chemicals can not only be collected, but also examined further after they are released and then destroyed - without having to burn the filter right away.

The university announced that the researchers had used this method to create a basis for further developments on a larger scale.